1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to road pavement for vehicles. More particularly, the invention relates to a paved surface configured for reducing tire noise and increasing tire traction on the paved surface and to a method and apparatus for manufacturing such a paved surface.
2. Description of Related Art
Modern roads manufactured to transport vehicular traffic typically are made from asphalt or concrete. The use of concrete is generally preferred for sections of road that see sustained and heavy traffic loads. Stones are typically placed into the asphalt mix to form an interrupted raised structure having multiple channels for channeling water from underneath the footprint of a rolling tire. Additionally, the traffic carrying surface of a section of a concrete road may be intentionally roughened, or patterned, to facilitate displacement of water from under vehicle tires during wet conditions, thereby increasing traction.
A conventional method of creating a suitable rough top surface is to employ diamond coated saw blades to cut parallel grooves into a smoothly finished and cured concrete surface. Such grooves are typically oriented perpendicular (or transverse) to the direction of traffic and are generally spaced apart by about 1 inch or less. Alternatively, the parallel grooves may be disposed on concrete road surfaces in a generally longitudinal direction or parallel to the direction of traffic.
One problem associated with transversely oriented grooves is their interaction with vehicle tires in generating excessive and undesirable road noise. Residents living near roads having such transversely grooved concrete surfaces suffer from road noise generated by traffic on the road. Longitudinally oriented grooves inherently interact with front and rear tires of motorcycles causing an undesired road-imparting steering to the motorcycle. Thus, a motorcycle rider suffers from having excessive monitoring of the motorcycle steering to overcome the “squirrely” feeling induced by the longitudinal grooves.
Thus, it would be highly advantageous to provide a paved surface configured for reducing tire noise and increasing tire traction on the paved surface and to a method and apparatus for manufacturing such a paved surface. It would also be advantageous to avoid the problems associated with conventional transverse or longitudinally grooved road surfaces.